The Number 32 Route

14 September 2009

Linda having posted 3 we prepared earlier, we set off on the 32 while she is off in Eastern Europe, having – we hope – a sunny time. Mary, Renee and I met at Edgware Station, visiting the Broadwalk shopping centre first to use the excellent facilities, and we were off by 10.20. The 32 route to Kilburn Park Station covers much of Renee’s ‘home’ area, and she showed us where she had worked for Green Shield Stamps, as well as various of her local shops and the Edgware Community Hospital, with which she is not impressed! We also passed two pubs with strange deer-related names, the ‘Change of Hart’ and the ‘Bald Faced Stag’, but as usual, none of the reviewing websites bothers to explain the names.

This was very much a retail route, with many oriental shops, including the enormous Wing Yip supermarket, but also a good smattering of Polish shops and services, as we went through Hendon. The route goes down to Staples Corner but not into Brent Cross (reminding me of the old Goons joke about catching the 29 bus because it goes straight past Holloway Prison and you would not want to go in)

There were many pawnbrokers as well as charity shops, something which we had noticed on the 16 and 31, whose routes we were following for a while. We liked the Ancient Order of Foresters Friendly Society, which is more usually just known as 'Foresters'. We also passed the national HQ of the Multiple Sclerosis Society and two other Kilburn stations, before reaching Kilburn Park Station and ending the trip, just 50 minutes after departure. Not the most exciting bus route we have been on, but enlivened by the company and conversation of Renee, and some rather strange advertisements along the way.